Americans favor public health option

[sabra]

Source: Chicago Trib

<snip>

But, as the Senate attempts to take a health-care bill to the floor as a test of the ability to began debate later this week, here's a simple question:

"Now thinking specifically about the health insurance plans available to most Americans, would you favor or oppose creating a public health insurance option administered by the federal government that would compete with plans offered by private health insurance companies?''

Fifty-six percent said yes to the "public option'' in the Nov. 13-15 survey conducted by CNN and Opinion Research Corp. That's the same number that CNN found at the end of August, as the public option was becoming the most controversial aspsect of the legislation.

Now that the House has narrowly (220-215) approved a health-care bill with a public option, and Senate leaders are advancing one with an option for a public option that states could opt-out from if they wanted, two-thirds of those surveyed say they oppose allowing states to prevent people from taking part in a public option if the government has one.

The survey of 1,014 adults, including 928 registered voters, carries a possible margin or error of plus or mnus 3 percentage points.

Read more: http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2009/11/americans_favor_public_health.html

[ejpoeta]

1. who cares what WE want... we are only the citizens after all and who these jerks

are supposed to be working for. It pisses me off that the insurance companies seem to have so much power over legislation that might impede their ability to screw us over at any moment. A public option is useless if we can't get access to it. Why is it that if I am not happy with the choices avaliable to me through my husband's work I am not able to go access the public plan. it's the only way to get the insurance companies to actually compete. If it's only available to the uninsured then it is not going to be very effective. I am glad that the attempts to try to make it seem like most people don't wnat a public option have failed... I wish that our representatives would listen and actually do what they were elected to do.

[daleanime]

2. You and me both...

:fistbump:

[closeupready]

3. They are mostly crooks, many members of Congress.

There are exceptions, of course - Bernie Sanders being my favorite - but for those who are, they take money from those with lots of it, and do their bidding cleverly so as to disguise the fact that they vote to advance their client's interests.

I suppose technically, they aren't crooks since this is mostly legal, but you can fool people only so long before they catch on.

[ejpoeta]

5. i don't know. there seem to be a lot of folks who are fooled every election cycle.

the politicians pretend to give a crap for a few months while they are running for election and somehow they get re-elected and then they go off and ignore their constituents the rest of the time. you hear people say they aren't going to forget come the next election and then they go off and vote for them anyway. because you are voting for pot or kettle it seems.... some prefer pot... some prefer kettle. they vote for the pot because they don't like kettle.

[closeupready]

8. Unfortunately, that is true.

The solution (campaign finance reform) is one which, as someone pointed out yesterday, neither party will support, as it shortcircuits the legalized and profitable system of bribery they have going on.

So I'm not sure where we go from here. I wish I had some answers.

[ejpoeta]

12. it will never change as long as the people who benefit from it control its fate.

and the conflict of interest seems to be lost on these clowns. now THAT is something we should have a vote on.... let the people vote on that. never happen, but it should. i can't quite figure out how we are supposed to get our government back with the thumb so firmly planted on the scale like it is.

[on point]

4. Single Payer is the FIRST Choice!

All of these polls continue to fail to ask if a single payer system is preferred over the public option.

A clean, simple, universal, no opt out, no dimunition of women's rights is what we will settle for as a compromise. I want the public option as something I can choose, even if I have corp care, becasue I want the choice. Yes, I hope it drives the insurance companies out of business so we can loweer our overall costs and put this cojuntry on better economic footing.

[ejpoeta]

6. for some reason people are afraid of a single payer system. they equate it with

socialism. it's not, but they see it as if it were. thanks media!! i look at it as a series of small pools. it makes more sense to have one big pool that everyone is in. people like myself are less likely to need much more than a yearly check up and my counseling. the reason medicare has a hard time is because by the time people can access it, they are more likely to need to use it frequently. so most of the people in that pool are drawing from it. but if we were all in the same pool, then someone like me is paying in but not really needing to use it.... but grandma down the street who is retired may need a hip replacement or something else.... but since i am paying more in than i am using, my contributions are ensuring her hip replacement. as it stands now i am paying towards an insurance policy that if i do not use it just lines the pockets of the insurance company. but if instead we are all just pooling our insurance dollars together, the money just keeps going towards healthcare instead of being funneled out to stock holders. that is a fine business plan if we are selling bicycles, but heath care is not a very good business model. the money needs to be there if one needs to use it. i find there to be something very wrong with a system that i pay for, and then still ahve to pay a high amount of money out of my own pocket before the person i am paying has to spend a dime. where else do we see this??? there is no other business that i know of where if they didn't provide the service or product to you after you pay them they wouldn't be committing a crime.

[FiveGoodMen]

10. I know the reason

They get told that single payer is socialism on TV and the radio about every 90 seconds.

And no one even bothers to cover what socialism means; whether it's good or bad; whether it's all or nothing or comes in degrees.

[dflprincess]

11. On the other hand, I've talked to people who haven't been paying

that much attention to the details of the debate who support a public option - and think that means single payer.

The Democrats are going to be in deep trouble when the majority who wanted real reform figure out how badly they've been screwed.

[fascisthunter]

7. this corrupt government doesn't care what we want

[grilled onions]

9. WE, The Public

It sounds so logical that they should be representing us instead of themselves,their pockets,their pals. Yet there is a huge gap(worse then any Part D doughnut hole) between what WE want and what they are trying to get. Do they even listen to the voters? Do they ever read their emails,letters to the editor etc? Do they even care? So many of them seem so heartless to those who need this care the most. They fret over bailing out their buddies on Wall Street but Main Street U.S.A gets neglected all the time.

[ejpoeta]

13. they don't give a crap. as long as they can create the perception that they care

to enough people every four years to get re-elected then they could care less.